Lord Raptor
Background A charismatic young rock star who was killed and became a supernatural being when he was noticed by Emperor Ozom for playing a satanic chant offering souls. After becoming Ozom's personal assassin he was told that if he seeks to be stronger, he would have to defeat the Darkstalkers as well as collect their souls for the Emperor. Although Lord Raptor had agreed, his true plans were to destroy Ozom and to take out his spot of being the Emperor along with the Makai Beast Le Malta. When Ozom and his castle disappeared, Lord Raptor was puzzled. When he arrived at the location where Ozom's castle stood, he found the entrance to the realm known as Majigen. This time, he intended to defeat the ruler of Majigen, Jedah Dohma, and take out his spot with Le Malta at his side. Personality Lord Raptor is a wise cracking and comical person, who does not take many situations seriously, no matter how dangerous it may be, and he will often joke around with his comrades, but often makes jokes against his foes while dodging attacks as a way to make them lose their cool. Lord Raptor is extremely passionate when it comes to music, for he is knowledgeable when it comes to different types of music and bands, making many references to various genres of music (especially metal and rock) and will play his guitar in his spare time. Lord Raptor is very loud (keeping to his rockstar personality when he was still a human) as well as shameless since he does not care if others see his "weird" side since he loves being a supernatural being, seeing as he will embrace this by making macabre jokes. Although his comedic nature and hammy speech may give off the impression that he is just a joker, Lord Raptor is actually much smarter than he appears to be, as he can trick his foes into being pawns in his plans to gather more information. Raptor will only make a deal with a villain only to betray them later for his own personal reasons, as he did to Ozom when rebelling against him. On the battlefield, Lord Raptor is an incredibly strong opponent who shows no mercy to anything he considers an enemy. He will constantly belittle the opposition to throw them off as he attacks. Raptor is an incredibly skilled fighter who is powerful enough to take on the most dangerous supernatural beings that Makai has to offer such as Demitri and Morrigan, and he treats these duels just like his concerts, as he tries to look flashy and impressive as he defeats his victims, laughing all the way. Lord Raptor's ego will shine through at these moments as he will boast about how his foe is a fool for thinking they could defeat him. Despite his power, Lord Raptor is always seeking out a way to make himself stronger by gathering electricity or sucking out the souls of his fallen adversaries. Lord Raptor's biggest flaw is his own ego which can cloud his judgement and his attraction to Hsien-Ko, resulting in his plans blowing up in his face, but thanks to his supernatural healing power and own quick wit, he can withstand defeat being more angry than anything. However, he may end up with less power than he started with. Although Lord Raptor may look like a monster with no compassion for humans or demons, he has shown that he is still a caring person at heart. He cares for the fans who enjoys his music even if he'll drain their power. He is best friends with Le Malta, as Raptor treats him like a brother, he genuinely cares for the Makai Beast, and will become very enraged if anyone hurts him; the two make an excellent team as they both fight for thrills and strength. Another side that Lord Raptor has is his respect for anyone as crafty as he is, and as for his deep feelings for the heroic Hsien-Ko, he has a massive crush on the Jiang Shi and is completely devoted to her as he will do anything to protect her. Hsien-Ko however does not view him in that kind of manner; however, she does seem to respect him for keeping his humanity as he is not like Jedah or Demitri, who has neither compassion nor empathy for humanity, especially in Jedah's case. Powers and Abilities Lord Raptor has the unique power to change into his human and zombie form at will. As a human, he can walk among regular people without being recognized as a Darkstalker, Even in this weaker state he has amazing strength as he can destroy a building with ease and knock out a powerful Darkstalker with a single punch without the use of the rest of his talents. If Lord Raptor is in an actual battle, he will unleash his true power by transforming into a ravenous ghoul: in this form, his strength, speed, mobility, reach and resilience are increased to a supernatural level. As a zombie, Lord Raptor can generate electricity to empower himself as well using it in attacks like Evil Scream and Death Voltage, which can drain the energy of his foes due to the high amount of volts that come from his body, which can also contort and bend into different shapes as well as stretch his limbs far out which is useful for dodging attacks. This combined with his ability to transform his limbs into blades, drills, demonic faces and chainsaws makes him hard to approach in combat, if he is ever heavily damaged to the point of being crippled his body will naturally heal and restore itself back to normal making him nearly unkillable. Lord Raptor's can even use his demonic guitar as a way to produce soundwaves loud enough to damage opponents or if he wants to be more precise with his target, shoot lasers from the headstock of his instrument. Lord Raptor can also play supernatural tunes on his guitar to place mystical spells on his enemies or even increase his own power. If one of his limbs is severed, it is able to move on its own and maim whoever gets in Raptor's way. This is shown in a fight with Demitri where each of his torn off limbs are able to effectively defeat him.Since Raptor is so unpredictable and violent he is considered one of the most powerful Darkstalkers along with Demitri and Morrigan. The rock star life Lord Raptor had charisma like that of a young Ozzy Osbourne. He was an expert guitarist, singer and was known as the God of Metal to his peers however he only gained a cult status when he began his music career. The only thing clear is that he was unknown to the mainstream before he released his first album, The Oral Dead. Although his first album, an indie album, did not sell in numbers, he received a good amount of support from certain groups. Eventually, he became the next big sensation in the music scene. He instantly became famous in all of Australia and was loved by his fans. His second album sold 200,000 copies in a month, and reached one million in three months, making him a massive hit and icon in rock culture throughout Australia. His fans were more like followers of a cult for his music than fans of an artist. On his final live performance, a hundred of his fans lost their lives by having their souls drained out of their bodies from a supernatural power by Ozom, and Lord Raptor himself died and became a supernatural being unbeknownst to the public. Years later Raptor came back, claiming to have hidden away due darkstalkers attacking his concert and then laying low. Although people questioned the story and his strange makeup choices, he was welcomed back by the music scene and continued to gather masses of fans who all seemed less brainwashed by his songs. Even his previous albums were shown to lack any of the supposed "evil messages" that some claimed. The leather covered book Days after, a strange leather covered book was found in his house, and people hoped that this book would uncover some truth to his death. The book was called "A Chapter of Tolagido" and was written in ancient Hebrew. In this book, it explained the existence of another realm known as Makai. The words in this book resembled the lyrics to his hit songs. And in a topic titled "A Curse To Give Sacrifices To The King of Makai", the horrifying truth was hidden. Raptor's last song at his live show was called "Sacrifice". This song was played for the first time and was the next song of Raptor's music. The lyrics in this song were identical to the lyrics found in the curse. With further research, it was found that the preparation for the curse took a long time. Since the first album was released, Raptor had already started to influence his fans. However, there was no way to prove this at present. It was if he was manipulated by some other force. This knowledge was only a rumor though and most people involved with finding this information strangely disappeared The songs he created are still sold on the market as metal classics and according to those who went to his shows, Raptor's enigmatic voice was like ecstasy. In the end, there was no rational explanation for the incident. The only thing that is certain is that a simple musician could not do such a thing unless he had the powers of the supernatural. Lord Raptor's discography *''Oral Dead'' — His first album, which includes his titular hit song, "Oral Dead" *''Punishment'' — His second album. A million seller that was sold by word of mouth. *''Noise of Heaven'' — The third album, which is more religious and ceremonial. It contains the song "Soul Beats". Its theme is the rebirth of souls. It also contains the song "Black Justice" which speaks of darkness. *''Tripper'' — His first memorial live album, which took place in the Southern Cross Hall and gathered 60,000 people. 400 people went unconscious, and 18 people had heart attacks (two of which had lost their lives). After this had occurred, performing live became harder and the police began to monitor him. *''Fangorra'' — A compilation album which contains unreleased songs. There was a rumor that the album contained a track zero, so the record company called back the CD. Indeed, before the first track, there were 16 seconds of silence. Many people claimed that a supernatural curse would play during that time, although there was no music actually recorded during this silence. After the CDs were called back, the first press became premium items. *''Devil'' — His latest album, which was released after his death. Contains the song "Sacrifice", Which became a legendary classic along with the rest of his music lineup. About "real" zombies In the voodoo cult of the Caribbean, a zombie is a soulless body that serves a sorcerer as a slave. The soul could have left the body through the regular death rituals, but could also have been removed from a living body by the power of the sorcerer. These Caribbean zombies are brought back to life through means of voodoo or necromancy, destroying the mental capacities of this person through the process. In the present day, Haitians believe zombies to exist in their lands. Thousands of people in Haiti are considered to be zombies, some of which lead normal everyday lives with families, jobs, and are respected citizens. It is considered a crime to make a zombie in Haiti. ''Haitian Penal Code: Article 249. It shall also be qualified as attempted murder the employment which may be made against any person of substances which, without causing actual death, produce a lethargic coma more or less prolonged. If, after the person had been buried, the act shall be considered murder no matter what result follows.'' To create these Haitian zombies, a voodoo practitioner makes a potion that mainly consists of pufferfish poison and gives it to the intended victim. This causes severe neurological damage, primarily affecting the left side of the brain, which controls speech, memory and motor skills. The victim suddenly becomes lethargic, then slowly seems to die. In reality, the victim's respiration and pulse become so slow that they are nearly impossible to detect. The victim retains full awareness when being taken to the hospital, then perhaps to the morgue, and finally as being buried alive. Then, the voodoo practitioner come at leisure to retrieve the victim, who has now become a slave, as a commodity. At one time, it was said that most of the slaves that worked in Haiti's sugar cane plantations were zombies. Zombiea will remain in a robot-like state indefinitely until they taste either salt or meat. At that point, zombies becomes aware of their state and immediately return to their grave. The reality that there may be actual "zombies", kept in such state by the use of powerful drugs, has only been taken seriously by medical science within the last ten years, since the use of CAT scans of the brain, along with the confessions of voodoo priests, explaining their methods. Previously, zombies were considered mentally defective by science or explained as stunts to try to confuse scientists. There are many examples of zombies in modern day Haiti. A case reported a writer named Stephen Bonsal, who described a zombie he witnessed in 1912 in this way: "A man that had at intervals a high fever had joined a foreign mission church, and the head of the mission saw the patient die. He assisted at the funeral and saw the dead man buried. Some days later, the supposedly dead man was found dressed in his grave clothes, tied to a tree, moaning. The poor wretch soon recovered his voice but not his mind. He was identified by his wife, by the physician who had pronounced him dead, and by the clergyman. The victim recognized no one, and his days were spent moaning inarticulate words no-one could understand." The Country of the Comers-Back Lord Raptor's date of birth coincides with the release of Lafcadio Hearn's short story entitled "The Country of the Comers-Back." Published in 1889 in Harper's Magazine, the non-fiction article covers skullduggery on the Island of Mozambique, and netted the first literary mention of zombies in the Western world. Appearances Darkstalkers series= *''Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors'' *''Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge'' *''Darkstalkers 3'' *''Darkstalkers Chronicle: The Chaos Tower'' *''Darkstalkers Resurrection'' In Japanese only games *''Vampire Hunter 2'' *''Vampire Savior 2'' *''Vampire: Darkstalkers Collection'' |-| Other Games= *''SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters' Clash'' *''SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters 2'' *''SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters DS'' *''Lei-Lei's Magical Hammer'' *''Namco x Capcom'' *''Project X Zone'' *''Project X Zone 2'' |-| Cameos= *''Street Fighter Alpha 2'' - On Ken's stage, sitting next to Hsien-Ko. He is in his human like form, playing the guitar. *''Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo'' - On Hsien-Ko's stage. *''Marvel Vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes'' - On the Makai Bar stage, playing on-stage. *''SNK vs. Capcom: The Match of the Millennium'' - Appears on Felicia's mini game. *''Capcom Fighting Evolution'' - On the Underworld stage *''Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds'' - Speaks to Dormammu in his ending *''Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3'' - On a "Heroes and Heralds" card |-| Other media= *''Darkstalkers the Animated Series'' *''Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge OVA'' *''Street Fighter VS. Darkstalkers Sprite Fighting games= |-| Card Fighters= Gallery Official artwork Videos Darkstalkers - Lord Raptor Moves List|Lord Raptor Moves List Darkstalkers - Lord Raptor Character Strategy|Lord Raptor Strategy Raptor's Darkstalkers 3 Ending|''Darkstalkers 3'' ending Lord Raptor's Night Warriors Ending|''Night Warriors'' ending Trivia *Further regarding Lord Raptor's origins and inspirations, much of his concepts derive greatly from the real world scenes of heavy metal and rock n' roll: **Being a literal zombie hearkens to the use of corpse paint, which was started in use by early metal and shock rocker Alice Cooper, which then saw its aesthetic spread to the Scandinavian metal scene. He may also be potentially inspired by the British metal band "Iron Maiden", and bears a close resemblance to their mascot character, "Eddie". **Coming from Australia refers to the band AC/DC, who were also the subject of much fame and controversy in their home country. **His background of being an occultist heavy metal star was likely based on the American and European/Scandinavian 1980's moral panic of heavy metal and the accusations of it being associated with Satanism and debauchery, notably regarding bands such as Mayhem and Slayer. Mayhem grew to be one of Norwegian black metal's most notorious bands after scandals involving not just a satanist based agenda that included "spreading evil, misery, and nihilism" and burning down churches, but to infamous affairs within the band itself, including suicide of one of its members and the murder Euronymous. Slayer grew to legendary controversy after its prominent use of satanic imagery for stage presence and shock value, including incorporating the subjects into their lyrics and songs. **The revelation of his incantation based lyrics being removed upon his death is in reference to the urban rumor spread by Christian morality groups that rock and metal musicians allegedly inserted subliminal messages into their records, and when played backwards, would reveal messages such as "Worship Satan" and "Praise the Dark Lord". *In Vampire Savior, ''Lord Raptor's name is misspelled "Rapter" in some parts of the game. *The creature that accompanies Lord Raptor is named Le Malta, he is his best friend. *At the begining of Lord Raptor's Dark Force, he appears wearing a leather jacket and with his hair styled in a mowhawk. There is a 1 out of 16 chance that he will appear with an afro instead of a mohawk. *His Midnight Bliss form is inspired by the anime movie character Naomi Armitage from Armitage III, him holding a gun at Demitri Maximoff is a reference to a scene from the movie. **Fans commonly know this version of him as "Lady Raptor" and "Zabelle" by fans. *Lord Raptor has the ability to move while crouching. *Lord Raptor has been voiced by Yuji Ueda in all of his video game appearances thus far, his seiyuu only ever changing in the anime, where he was instead voiced by Koichi Yamadera. Similarly, Raptor is the only character to have the same voice actor, Scott McNeil, in both the American [[Darkstalkers the Animated Series (1995)|''Darkstalkers animated series]] and the English dub of the Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge OVA. *Lord Raptor appears to have a crush on Hsien-Ko. This can be seen in Raptor's special intro pose when fighting against Hsien-Ko. Similarly, Raptor also has a special victory quote "Hey sweetheart! I die for you!" further proving this. **During ES Death Phrase while fighting against her he can be heard yelling "My Darling!" once flinging towards her. Same can be heard during his intro. **Within the Vampire Savior manga, it is revealed that Hsien-Ko does have feelings for Lord Raptor but doesn’t want to admit it. ***Lord Raptor even manages to save Hsien-Ko in the manga. *In the ''Darkstalkers'' cartoon, Lord Raptor is a failing musician and actor, despite his belief he is the world's greatest rockstar. Lord Raptor in actuality persistantly fails to appeal to audiences and constantly terrorizes his Agent Irving to find him "better gigs." He also claims to have been "The Original Sweeney Todd", a performance which received rave reviews, until he admits he wrote said reviews himself. *Lord Raptor appears in a card of the "Heroes and Heralds" mode in Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3. *Along with Bishamon in both the original Darkstalkers and Night Warriors, Lord Raptor has a unique winpose if he wins the final match of the game, turning into his human form. He retains this winpose in subsequent games like Vampire Savior. *In the UDON Comics, Lord Raptor was able to use Psycho Power. Navigation External links *Lord Raptor - Strategy Wiki *Lord Raptor - Mizuumi Wiki *Lord Raptor - Capcom Database References Category:Characters Category:Males Category:Australians Category:UDON Characters Category:Antagonists